MICROEFFECTS OF WOMEN'S EDUCATION ON CONTRACEPTIVE USE AND FERTILITY: THE CASE OF UGANDA

Abstract

Abstract This article uses the Uganda Demographic and Health Survey (2006), which links an individual woman's fertility outcomes to her education level. Thus, in this study, an attempt has been made to investigate the relationships between women's education, contraceptive use, and fertility rates in Uganda. The findings indicate that women's education and social–economic factors are important in explaining reproductive behavior. Fertility findings show that higher education levels are consistently associated with lower fertility rates and positively associated with contraceptive use. The major implication of these results is that raising women's education improves their economic opportunities, and the behavioral responses in fertility will lead to the decline in population by reducing the willingness to engage in unprotected sex and subsequent fall in fertility. Copyright © 2013 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.